Baby Agent
by snarkysweetness
Summary: Superheroes don't have bedtimes.


**Title:** Baby Agent  
 **Author:** snarkysweetness  
 **Rating:** PG-13  
 **Pairing:** Philinda with their baby girl, Skye, & Skyeward with their baby girl, Alice, but really this is about mothers and daughters  
 **Summary:** Superheroes don't have bedtimes.  
 **Warnings:** None.  
 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
 **Author's Notes:** This is just tooth-rotting fluff.

 _ **1992**_

Melinda May did her best not to let her frustration show on her face, but she was oh so close to murdering her husband tonight.

"Phillip, it's nine, why isn't she in bed?" She asked calmly, her eye twitching as a small blur rushed past her and jumped onto the back of the sofa.

Melinda took three deep breaths. She could handle this. She was a superspy. A top agent. She handled assassins on the daily. She would not be taken down by a tiny little thing who was far too energetic considering it was past her bedtime.

"SUPERHEROES DON'T HAVE BEDTIMES, MOMMY!" Skye screeched at the top of her lungs as she placed her fists on her hips and puffed her chest out to show off the Captain America shield on her caped nightdress.

A smirk played on the corners of her mouth, but Melinda fought the urge to smile. Sure, her baby girl was the cutest toddler alive, but she was not going to allow Skye to wrap her around her finger the way she had Phil. One of them had to be a responsible adult after all.

"Rawr!" Skye growled before jumping off the back of the sofa.

Panic filled her chest as she rushed to catch Skye before she broke her neck.

"I am superhero, mommy!" Skye pouted, crossing her arms as Melinda clutched the girl to her chest.

"Maybe, but one of your powers isn't flight," Melinda scolded as she kissed Skye's forehead and glared in her husband's direction.

She was glad he was so amused by all of this because he was going to be sleeping on the couch tonight.

"And ever superheroes have to get some sleep, sweetheart," she added, rocking Skye in her arms as she made her way towards the stairs.

"Nuh uh, mommy!" Skye argued. "Superheroes no need sleepy! Tell mommy, daddy!" She yelled, crossing her arms, and glaring in his direction.

Melinda hated to admit it, but this spoiled brat was one hundred percent her child. This was payback for all the hell she put her own mother through.

"Sweetheart," Phil began, giving his wife puppy eyes, "can't she play for just a little longer? Look how adorable she is, and she'll wear herself out eventually."

She was so not in the mood for this shit.

"No, Phillip, because when it's time to get her up in the morning and she's a cranky little monster you won't be the one dealing with it, I will. And trust me; there's nothing adorable about an exhausted toddler."

"I'll get her up," he lied.

Melinda raised one brow, stared him down, then rolled her eyes and went up the stairs.

"I go worky with you, mommy!" Skye announced like a demand.

"Oh, is that so?" Melinda humored her, amused.

Her little girl nodded furiously. "I be agent too! Agent Skye to rescue!" She yelled, pumping her little fist into the air.

Pressing her lips together to keep from laughing, Melinda set Skye down in her 'big girl' bed and began taking out the red, white, and blue bows out of her hair while Skye made 'pow pow' noises while punching her fists into the air.

"And then bad guys go down on floor!"

A snort escaped her nose and Melinda gave Skye a small smile. "You're going to be a very good agent, baby girl, but to do that you have to get sleep, so you don't make mistakes."

"But I superhero too, mommy!"

"Yes, well, even Captain America had a bedtime."

"Daddy, that true?" Skye asked, batting her eyes as she smirked towards the doorway.

"Yes, that's true." He informed her with a smirk, making Skye cross her arms with a pout as he walked over. "Captain America always went to bed on time and ate all of his vegetables," he added as he leaned down and bopped her little nose.

"But I no tired," Skye insisted with a pout. "Wanna play more!"

"We can play tomorrow, princess."

Skye shoved her bottom lip out as far as it would go and began to wibble it while sniffling.

Phil frowned, and Melinda could see him battling the urge to give in.

He gave his wife a pleading look and she glared back at him with a frown. He was not going to make her the bad guy again just because he couldn't stand up to a four-year-old.

"Sorry, princess," he finally conceded, looking more upset than the baby did.

"Mommy," Skye whined, as if that trick would work on her.

Melinda pulled back the covers, scooped Skye into her arms, kissed her cheek, and set her back down before tucking her in.

"We will see you in the morning, then you can play all day in daycare with the other kids."

"No, wanna play with you and daddy! I can go work with you! Then we get ice cream!"

Melinda chuckled and kissed her forehead. "I'll think about it."

"Goodnight, angel eyes," Phil whispered, leaning over to kiss her goodnight.

"I can has story?" Skye asked, battling a yawn as she batted her eyes.

With a sigh, Melinda glanced towards her pushover husband who stared back at her with the saddest eyes she'd ever seen.

Shaking her head, she sat at the edge of the bed and poked Skye's cheek. "Fine, but after daddy reads you're going to sleep."

"Okay, mommy," Skye agreed eagerly before yawning loudly.

With a smile, Melinda brushed a few curls away from Skye's face as she watched her fight to keep her eyes open.

Melinda shook her head. What a stubborn, beautiful child.

Phil sat next to Melinda and wrapped one arm around her waist while he began reading Skye's favorite bedtime story, picking up where he left off last night.

" _I could tell you my adventures-beginning from this morning,' said Alice a little timidly; 'but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then._ "

It took less than three pages for their baby agent to be completely out.

Tucking her in again, they each gave her a final kiss goodnight before quietly slipping out of the room and turning off the lights.

"Don't even think about it," Melinda 'tsked' as Phil wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I'm exhausted, hungry, and the two of you left a mess for me downstairs."

"We can clean it in the morning," Phil whispered into her ear, pulling her towards their bedroom.

Rolling her eyes, Melinda followed. He was far too charming for her to resist, even if she still wanted to strangle him for allowing a child to be the boss of him.

"I still need dinner," she reminded him as she plopped down at the edge of their bed and began pulling off her boots.

"You can wait until you've had a piece of this," he winked before pulling his shirt off. She was sure he was trying to be _sexy_ but honestly, his fragile ego was the only thing keeping her from bursting into laughter. "Desert first."

Clearing her throat, Melinda stood and pulled him closer with a small smile.

"There's my girl. Come get some sugar."

"You're lucky I love you," she teased, leaning into him for a kiss. "But I love food more," she quipped before their lips met.

Chuckling, she moved towards the door while he whined loudly.

"Wait, I'll bring you something while you get comfortable," he pouted like a puppy.

"Thank you." She kissed his cheek on her way to the bathroom, needing to wash this day off her.

Ten minutes later she was refreshed, in bed, and struggling to stay awake while shoving an egg roll into her mouth.

"I can't believe you couldn't bother to cook, Phil."

"Skye and I were too busy building a fort," he informed her.

Shaking her head, Melinda finished the food in her mouth and glanced over at him with a small frown.

"One day you're going to have to stop being the 'fun dad'. I'm sick of being the bad cop. She's going to grow up hating me."

Phil scoffed loudly. "Oh please, Melinda, our girl worships you. She tolerates me."

"That girl loves you more than anyone," Melinda argued.

"Not more than you. Do you know what she talks about all day? You. About what mommy is off doing, and how mommy is a superhero, and how she can't wait to grow up so she can be just like mommy.

I'm just the goofy guy who entertains her until mommy gets home."

Melinda wasn't sure that was true, but she was way too tired to argue with him, so she set her plate aside to reach for her wine.

"You have a little-" Phil reached over and licked something off the corner of her mouth.

"That is not how that works, Phil," she teased.

"Oh yeah? How about this?" He pressed his lips to hers and she forgot all about her leftover Chinese and wine.

She had to hand it to him. He was a big pushover and his boner for Captain America was too much to deal with sometimes but damn was he a good kisser.

Amongst _other_ things.

Things they were not meant to get to tonight.

"Phil," she whispered, opening her eyes. "We have company."

And, sure enough, her mom senses were on point because when they broke apart they found Skye watching them from the doorway with her big doe-eyes as she twirled her curls innocently.

With a smile, Melinda moved to their daughter and knelt to stroke her cheek.

"Baby girl, why are you awake?"

"I had to go potty," she whispered through a yawn before wrapping her arms around Melinda. "You put back to bed, mommy? I misses you."

She was no pushover, but she couldn't help but melt.

Scooping her up, Melinda kissed her cheek and held her close. "Of course, baby. Mommy misses you too."

"Maybe I stay with you and daddy," Skye said, burying her face in Melinda's neck. And before Melinda could reluctantly say 'no' she added: "I misses you all day."

A whine formed in her throat. Great, now she felt guilty.

"Okay, baby, but only for tonight." If they let this become a habit it wouldn't do any of them any good.

"'Kay, mommy."

Carrying Skye to bed, she shot Phil a glare. He was lucky there was a toddler here to keep her from wiping that shit-eating grin off his face. He was such an ass sometimes.

"Night, princess," Phil said, kissing the top of Skye's head. "Let's get you tucked in."

"No!" She argued when he tried to pull her away from Melinda. She wrapped her arms around her tighter. "Want stay with mommy."

"Yeah, Phil, she wants her mommy," Melinda teased, feeling only a _little_ bad about the look of betrayal on his face.

Leaning back, she pulled the covers over Skye and held her against her chest while reaching over for another egg roll.

"I can has bite?"

"Of course."

Melinda ran her fingers through Skye's hair as she watched her sleepily chew on her food. She hadn't known it was possible to love someone this much until Skye. How was it that someone so tiny could be your entire world?

"Mommy?" Skye yawned before glancing up at her through heavy eyelids.

"Yes, baby?"

"You my hero," Skye announced before snuggling back against Melinda with a sigh. A second later she was out.

"I told you so," Phil beamed.

Rolling her eyes, she tried not to smile.

"We made a pretty good kid, Mel."

"Yeah, she's not bad," Melinda whispered, watching her sleep.

The truth was she was the best kid.

* * *

 _ **2018**_

"YOU ARE A GROWN-ASS MAN AND YOU CAN'T EVEN STAND-UP TO A CHILD? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Skye screamed, red in the face, while giving her husband the sternest look Melinda had ever seen.

She was impressed. This one beat even her own mother. She'd raised this one right.

Skye was still in her dirty Avengers uniform, hair messy, and bleeding from a few small cuts but she didn't seem to care about that because she'd walked into the house two minutes ago to find that not only was her child up past her bedtime, but she was dressed in a SHIELD costume, rolling around on the furniture, and shooting a nerf gun at her father.

"What did you feed her?" Skye screeched, and Melinda shot Phil a 'look'. She knew he'd been the one who had snuck her a cupcake or three after dinner.

"Hey, don't blame me!" Ward argued. "I got home an hour ago and she was like this."

"That's an hour you should have spent giving her a bath and putting her to bed.

Wait…" Skye slowly glanced in her father's direction. "It's ten o'clock! Grant got home at nine! Dad, she should have been in bed by then!"

He didn't even try to feign innocence.

"Tomorrow is her birthday! She deserved a treat!"

"Oh! And tomorrow when she can't even enjoy her party because she's exhausted?" Skye yelled, _furious_.

"I be fine, mama!" Alice announced with a huge grin. "I no even need nappy today! Huh, papa!"

Melinda glanced up from the cupcake she was icing to catch Ward pulling Skye against his chest before she could lunge at Phil.

Chuckling, Melinda returned to her task.

Alice was a mini-Skye and karma was very sweet.

"No bed, mama!"

"Excuse me, miss, but I am your mother and I'm the boss," Skye argued, hands on her hips.

Alice put her own hands on her hips, mimicking her mother. "No bed!"

Skye raised a brow before crossing her arms.

"Grant, clean up this mess while I put this monster to bed."

"No, daddy put!" She huffed, crossing her arms with a huge pout.

"No, daddy's in trouble right now."

Grinning, Alice threw her arms around her daddy and smirked up at him. "Ooh, daddy! You were bad!"

Scooping her into her arms, Skye stared sternly down at her child. "He's in trouble because of you."

"That not fair to daddy, mama!" Alice argued.

They argued all the way up the stairs, until they were too far away to hear.

Snorting, Melinda stood and ruffled Phil's hair on her way out of the room.

"Help Ward clean up, it's your mess."

"I'm an old man, Melinda," he whined.

"I'll remember that the next time you want to get frisky, Phil."

"Melinda!"

Ignoring him and walking past a disgusted looking Ward, Melinda followed her offspring up the stairs.

"Monkey, sit still," Skye ordered with a loud sigh.

"No, I no monkey! I raptor! Rawr!" She yelled.

Melinda entered the room to find Skye attempting to get a dinosaur onesie on Alice who was squirming around, trying to 'attack."

"I attack village! And mama, you and the avengers must stop me!"

Melinda snorted loudly.

"This isn't funny," Skye insisted as she finally got her little monster into her pajamas.

"It's payback for all the times you did this to me."

Frowning, Skye chased after Alice who was now climbing on the rock wall Ward had built for her.

"No!" She screeched when Skye got hold of her and carried her towards her bed.

"Sweetheart, if you don't go to bed you won't have energy to play with your friends tomorrow," Skye insisted.

"Dinosaurs don't have bedtimes!"

Melinda couldn't fight the laughter that flooded out of her mouth.

Skye stared down at Alice with a look Melinda could only describe as horror.

"She really is my mini-me."

"Isn't it beautiful?" Melinda chuckled as she kissed the top of Skye's head.

"Lăolao, you come to bed," Alice ordered, grabbing her by the hands. "You have long day!"

"Yes, because someone in a hand full," she teased, kissing her forehead.

Alice beamed proudly, making Melinda laugh. This girl was almost all Skye but sometimes a little Ward slipped in and luckily it was the one or two good qualities he had.

"Lie down," Alice ordered.

"Only if you lie down too."

Alice pretended to think this over, but Melinda knew she was battling sleep just to be stubborn.

"Okay, but only if mama sleep too!"

Skye glanced down at her dirty uniform before sighing. "I guess I can do laundry tomorrow."

"Yay!" Alice yelled, bouncing happily.

"Now get under the covers," Skye ordered, pressing her nose to Alice's.

"Okay, mama," Alice smiled, kissing her before climbing under the covers.

Smiling, Skye lay on her side and reached out to comb through Alice's curls with her fingers.

It seemed like only yesterday Melinda used to do the same with Skye. Stroke her hair until she fell asleep, spend most night arguing about bedtime, and watching her the way Skye watched Alice. Now her baby girl was grown with her own baby and for the first time Melinda felt old.

Alice began to drift off and Skye glanced up at Melinda with a small smile.

"Tell me the truth, was I an only child because I was too much to handle?"

"Yes," Melinda answered quickly before smirking. "I'm kidding," she added before Skye could pout.

"I don't know why we never had more kids, it just never happened, I guess," Melinda shrugged.

She'd wanted a baby, so they'd had Skye. She'd never felt the urge to have another. Skye was perfect all on her own.

"Why?" Melinda asked, knowing her daughter well enough to already know the answer.

Skye shrugged and glanced back down at Alice who was snoring quietly. "I just wonder if I could handle it. I mean, I feel guilty enough that I work so much, and it's hard now that Grant is back to work. Plus, she's a hand full on her own. But she's worth it."

Melinda smiled. "Well, if it does happen, I'm sure Ward will be more than happy to be a stay-at-home dad again."

Skye chuckled. "Yeah, can you believe it? The superspy hosting tea parties and letting a little girl dress him up."

"Yeah, he's not so bad," Melinda offered. Still not good enough for her baby, but no one was.

"And hey," she whispered, waiting until Skye looked up at her to continue. "Don't you ever feel guilty about working. You wanted to be a superhero, and now you are, and that little girl looks up to you."

"I know, it's just hard because I want to be with her every second of every day. I love her so much."

"I know the feeling."

Skye smiled before letting out a long sigh.

"How hard do you think it would be with three of them?" She whispered as she sheepishly shrugged.

Blinking in surprise, Melinda was at a loss for words.

"Skye-"

"I didn't know," Skye insisted. "When I went into the field tonight. I was mid-quake when I felt their little heartbeats, just like I did with Alice." A smile crept to her lips at she stared off, lost in the memory. "Two of them."

She glanced down and placed a hand on her pelvis. "Twins," she said, as if she still didn't believe it.

"Well, now we know what Ward's good at."

" _Mom_."

"What? We all know that's why you married him."

Skye rolled her eyes.

"I married him because I love-"

Alice shot up, glancing around wildly, before huffing loudly.

"Madigan, mama!" She demanded with a whine, reaching out for her stuffed rabbit that was currently on the floor.

Skye nervously reached over to grab him, no doubt wondering what she'd heard.

"Here, sweetheart," Skye whispered soothingly.

Without another word, Alice was out again, clutching her rabbit to her chest.

"My sweet girl." Skye kissed the top of her head and kept her eyes on her.

"I'm going to stay here awhile. You and dad should go home and get some sleep."

"I'm good right here," Melinda insisted, reaching out to move hair out of Skye's face. "Besides, knowing your dad and Ward, they're probably wrapping the extra presents they think we don't know about."

Skye smiled up at her and Melinda felt herself melt.

She wasn't her baby agent anymore, but she'd always be her little girl.


End file.
